People ask me questions all the time about how I make my art business work with a full-time job. I’m here to tell you that now, more than ever, there are SO many resources and opportunities for people who want to start their own lil’ side businesses. I’ve been selling my art since my junior year of college, and it has been such a great creative outlet and source of extra income. I’ve learned a thing or two in the past three years, and I want to share a few tokens of wisdom in case anyone else has an idea for a business and needs a little bit of help getting started:
1. Find something you love
This is going to sound cheesy, but you can’t be in it just for the money. Money doesn’t motivate me to go to my studio after a long day of work or wake up early on a Saturday morning to draw. It has to be something that you would want to be doing anyways. Think about what you are good at—what you read about in your free time, what your friends are always asking you for help with. The reason I started my Instagram account is because a friend asked me to do a painting for her room—I posted it on Instagram, and people started to ask me about it. Think about that thing that makes you stay up late at night or wake up early in the morning, and then think about how you can monetize it.
2. Put yourself out there
Once you have your idea, don’t think about it too much—just launch! Start an Instagram account, set up a website, and start forming your email list. It might be a little bit nerve wracking, but chances are, people are going to be supportive! I used Squarespace to set up my website, and I use their email list tool as well. This advice might make some perfectionists cringe, but in my experience, if I overthink something too much, it just never happens. Action is better than perfection—so go ahead and launch, and you can edit the details as you go.
3. Educate yourself
There are SO many podcasts, books, and resources for people who are trying to start businesses and side hustles. My personal favorite podcasts are:
Goal Digger Podcast with Jenna Kutcher
Raw Milk Podcast
Positively Creative (if you’re an artist)
I also binge listen to podcasts about entrepreneurs like:
The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast
Second Life
How I Built This
I find these podcasts SO interesting, which is probably another reason I’ve successfully maintained my side hustle. I’m genuinely interested in business, entrepreneurship and how other people have achieved their goals. I want to learn as much as I can about these areas and love applying what I learn to my own business approach. I always find myself thinking “I mean if they can do it, why can’t I?”
4. Reach out
This is the scariest part if you are a little bit introverted like me, but you cannot do it alone. Reach out to your connections and ask for help. I’ve emailed so many artists that I admire or have connections with and asked them to just meet me for coffee or offer me a few words of wisdom. I’ve emailed galleries and applied to shows and reached out to designers. A lot of the time, people will ignore you, or they will say no. And guess what? That is okay- because some people will say yes, and they will give you valuable advice or open doors for you. People are more willing than you would think to help out or even to just talk about themselves and what they do – and a lot of the time it’s these conversations that are the most valuable.
5. Be Patient
There is no such thing as an overnight success.
For every overnight success, there are countless hours of work that nobody ever sees. I’ve been working on my art business for 2 and a half years and I still feel like I’m just getting started. I have to remind myself to stop desperately wishing to be somewhere that I’m not. Do what you can with what you have, today. Set goals, and dream big, but don’t give up when you don’t immediately get what you set out for. Sometimes the best lessons learned are in the path that it takes to get there.
Working a full-time job and running something on the side is exhausting, I’m not gonna lie. The only way it’s possible is if you are willing to make it a priority, which means giving up other things in your life to make more room to work—grabbing drinks with friends, going to work out classes, or watching Netflix in bed. I still do all of these things, just less than I would like to. But it is totally worth it when you start to see your hard work pay off!
So, don’t quit your 9-to-5 job before you are ready. Appreciate your 9-to-5 job for everything that it is teaching you. Our generation tends to have an attitude of being too good for a 9-to-5. Jobs are great—you have a regular paycheck and benefits, you learn A LOT, and you make a lot of connections. Not everybody wants to start a business of their own, and not everybody should! But if you have a goal, get after it!
That is my advice for everyone out there who wants to start something on the side. If it’s something you’ve been thinking about, I 100 percent encourage it! And if you need any more advice, just shoot me an email!
